"March 5, 1945: Hello Folks, I am still on the Island of Iwo Jima and, before I write anything else, I want to thank God I am still living. We just came back from the front lines today, and we are in assembly area now. We got some chow and managed to clean up a little. It sure is a break to get away from all that firing, but I think we are going back tomorrow. I expect to get back home there some day.” - USMC Anthony V. Manago.

Soon after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, Anthony V. Manago enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Manago participated in action against the Japanese enemy at Guam on August 15, 1944, and in patrols against enemy stragglers on Guam from August 19 to November 3, 1944.

On March 8, 1945, in an attack on the strongest point of Japanese defenses on central Iwo Jima, Manago was killed in action. He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Presidential Unit Citation with Ribbon Bar and Star” and the Victory Medal World War II and Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal.

On April 20, 1948, Mayor William O’Dwyer remembered Manago as a veteran “who so honorably gave his life that others might enjoy peace and freedom.” On September 28, 1956, the Anthony V. Manago Memorial Post No. 1816 was issued a permanent charter by the American Legion, and has been a focal point for social consciousness and individual enhancement of veterans and their families in Bedford–Stuyvesant and Clinton Hill for decades.

However, the City Council under then-speaker Christine Quinn refused to advance a bill for the renaming of the city park in honor of a national hero who loved his country enough to die for our liberty.